REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Best Places to Work in the Federal Government score rose for the fourth year in a row, making it once again the best place to work in the Army.
USASMDC’s overall engagement and satisfaction score rose 4.7 points to 80.8, an increase of 17.9 since it began to consistently rise from its 2018 score of 62.9. It is also the top-ranking Army organization on Redstone Arsenal and rated higher than any command across all branches of the U.S. military: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Space Force.
“SMDC was ranked the No. 1 best place to work in the Army for the second consecutive time,” said Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, USASMDC’s commanding general. “I am proud of the team we have and grateful for your efforts in helping our command not only achieve this recognition but to genuinely be a great place to work.”
The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government scores are calculated by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, and Boston Consulting Group using the Office of Personnel Management’s annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey results.
It offers an assessment of how federal public servants view their jobs and workplaces, providing employee perspectives on leadership, pay, innovation, work-life balance, diversity and other issues. In 2023, 459 agency subcomponent organizations were evaluated.
USASMDC had the highest Army scores of 83.8 in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; 73.6 in employee input; 69.1 in recognition; and 81.7 in professional development. Coming in with the second highest Army score in effective leadership and tied for work-life balance, USASMDC will host brainstorming sessions with the workforce to improve those FEVS scores.
“Brainstorming sessions permit supervisors and non-supervisors the opportunity to provide their feedback and recommendations on the FEVS categories identified for discussion, which always include the lowest scoring items,” said Dana Henslee, chief, Internal Review. “When we receive actionable feedback, we develop action plans and track those to completion.”
Henslee said these brainstorming sessions work. For example, in 2022, USASMDC had 15 questions with scores below 70, the Army’s goal. In 2023, there were only three questions below that threshold.
“I attribute these improvements to allowing personnel the opportunity to be heard and to contribute to improvements,” Henslee said. “But more than that, the workforce also sees that we take the results seriously and are working to make improvements.”
Gainey thanked everyone who participated in the most recent brainstorming session in March and said the command welcomes the workforce’s thoughts, ideas and feedback. He said the 2024 FEVS went live this week.
“Some teammates may have already received the email to take it,” Gainey said. “Your feedback helps us be better.”
Henslee said the primary metric of the FEVS is employee engagement, which refers to the likelihood individuals will demonstrate initiative and make positive contributions to organizational goals.
“Engaged employees take pride in their work, are passionate and energized by what they do, and are committed to the organization, the mission and their jobs,” Henslee said. “Engaged employees are the movers and shakers that make sure the mission is met.”
FEVS provides a measurement of employee engagement and allows leadership to easily see areas that may require more attention or emphasis.
“Employees have to see that management cares about their feedback and is using their feedback to make improvements,” Henslee said. “Over the past six years, we’ve established a FEVS battle rhythm to use the results to help improve workforce concerns and to make our command a better organization to work at and be a part of at the tactical, operational and strategic levels.”
Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, USASMDC results
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